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	<title>Using a Working Copy outside the Workspace</title>
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<h1>Using a Working Copy outside the Workspace</h1>
<h3>Overview</h3>
<p>You are already an existing SVN user and you have a working
copy on your disk.  You want to just use that same working copy inside
the IDE so that you do not have to maintain two copies.  Fortunately,
this is a supported scenario.  The only requirement is that
your working copy has to also be a valid Eclipse project.  This means that
it must containg an Eclipse <tt>.project</tt> file as well as any other files like the
Java <tt>.classpath</tt> file that are needed by Eclipse.  If necessary,
create a "dummy" project in Eclipse and copy the files Eclipse creates into
your working copy folder.</p>

<h3>Procedure</h3>
<p>To add the existing project to your workspace use the
<b>File &gt; Import</b> menu option.</p>

<img src="../images/eclipse-file-menu.jpg" alt="File Menu">

<p>This will bring up the Import dialog.</p>

<img src="../images/eclipse-import.jpg" alt="Import dialog">

<p>Select the "Existing Projects into Workspace" option and click
<b>Next</b></p>

<img src="../images/eclipse-import-project.jpg" alt="Import Project">

<p>The above dialog is from Eclipse 3.1.  The dialog on Eclipse 3.0 is
a little different, mainly that you can only import one project at a time.
In this example, I have the entire trunk folder checked out from the 
repository to my disk.  When I select that folder, the wizard automatically shows
all of the projects it finds in that folder.  You can select the ones that you
want to import into your workspace and click <b>Finish</b>.</p>

<p>If you are on Eclipse 3.1, after the Import completes, SVN should
automatically recognize the addition of these projects and connect the SVN Team
actions to the projects.  In Eclipse 3.0, you have to manually register the projects
with SVN.  See: <a href="../gettingstarted/share-existing.html">
Connect an Existing Project with SVN</a> for details.</p>

<p>This option sounds like Eclipse is going to copy the projects into
your workspace, but in actuality it only creates a pointer to the location
on disk which is what we want.</p>

<h3>Summary</h3>
<p>This is a great option to use if you have a need to use SVN clients other
than Eclipse and/or you already have an existing working copy on your disk and want
to avoid the checkout process.</p>

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<h3>Reference:</h3>
<p><a href="../gettingstarted/share-existing.html">
Connect an Existing Project with SVN</a></p>
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